shape skate.

This week the 5th graders are working with shape to create a cut paper skateboard design. After all 6 classes complete the project, I will be selecting a few students who exhibited good art room citizenship and creativity to create their designs on real wood decks.

The focus of this project is on layering different color value shapes to create depth and experimenting with positive and negative shapes to create interesting layered symmetrical designs.

The inspiration for the project comes from works by 3 different artists- Eva Zeisel, Patrick Hruby, and Shepard Fairey. I share images by these artists with the classes at the beginning of the lesson. We look at how they each create symmetry with shape and how each uses a balance between positive and negative shapes to create an interesting design. We also look at how the designs are different in terms of shape usage. I ask students to think about which of the designs is most interesting to them, so they can reflect on the work at the end of the lesson.

 Eva Zeisel

 Patrick Hruby

Shepard Fairey

The first project I did with the 5ths took 2 full class sessions, plus 20 more minutes for a total of 3 hours. I wanted this project to be completed in one class session. Most kids are hitting that mark. There was a lot of planning involved with their Boa Mistura public art drawings. This activity is much more spontaneous and each layer is a visual response to the preceding layer or layers.

Students could select white or gray paper for the deck color. They could then select from a variety of light colors for their background. I modeled folding the paper vertically, horizontally, or both ways to create a line or lines of symmetry and drawing simple shapes to cut out that would become negative shapes in that color. 

Students could then pick a medium color for their middleground. With this layer, I asked students to add more detail. To make their negative shapes a little bigger to allow their first layer to show through in places.

Students used a dark color paper for their foreground. Ideally, this is the most detailed layer. It has the biggest negative shapes.

As students laid their layers on top of each other I asked them to think about if enough of their middle and back showed through. If not, they could refold the layers on top and remove more paper.

The last step is to round of the top and bottom of the large rectangle to make the design into more of a skate deck shape.

Students are reflecting on the process and inspiration at the end of the lesson in writing.

I am really loving the visual variety in the final designs!

a little giant.

As in a sticker. A small sticker.

The 5th graders and I looked at the work of Shepard Fairey this week. I gave the kids a little background into who he is and what he does and then shared with them the image that really got things going for Shepard.

A small sticker of the professional wrestler and Fezzic from the Princess Bride. This sticker went viral at the end of the analog age. I remember seeing them in Philly and New York when I was a senior in high school:)

We looked at how Shepard's style and changed since this image. Much more posterized and abstract. 

At this point in the lesson most of the students recognize his work. Some kids were even wearing his OBEY GIANT brand in class.

At this point we shifted the discussion to logos. We looked at the Obama logo and a couple incarnations of Shepard's OBEY logo and discussed how often times logos are bold and somewhat simple or economical in their design. 

Then I shared the particular pieces of Shepard's that we would use as inspiration.

We looked at the 2 logo variations, talked about the presence of notan, the Japanese design concept that focuses on the play of light and dark, or positive and negative. I explained to the students that they would create a cut paper design and create a personal logo to be placed in the center of their design.

Students made the cut paper design just like they would if they were making snowflakes. They folded their paper twice and then drew and cut out a quarter circle a the bottom of the triangle. They then drew out their design, trying to keep shapes a finger's width apart, and keeping in mind they were going to have to cut the shapes out. 

I asked the students to keep track of their cut out pieces because they could use some of them later. After they were finished cutting I asked them to unfold their paper and reflect on the design. Were there areas that looked to empty? Did they have a variety of size shapes? Was there anything they could still add? They could then refold it and remove paper in other areas if needed. I showed them how to fold the paper one more time to be able to cut into other sections too.

Once cutting was done, they glued the red paper onto white. I then showed them how the could trim some of their cut outs and glue them back on to add more variety to their design. Students could also use a red marker to achieve this effect as well.

Students then drew out a logo in the center and traced and/or filled in pencil logo. I emphasized the use of thick and thin lines. Most students chose to do logos based on their name.

I gotta say, there was a lot of success with this project. Overall compositions, creative solutions, and being critical of their progress. They dug Shepard's work and were engaged throughout the lesson. Good stuff happening in the art room:)

create!

Here's one I did with my 4th graders last year. If I do it again I will NOTchoose oil pastels. A bad choice on my part since the images are so graphic and bold. I really don't know why I didn't switch media after one class...

That said, the students came up with some interesting combinations of visual and textual information.

We looked at the work of Shepard Fairey. Very current and fresh with his Obama poster that many of the students had seen. They thought it was cool that he was working in San Diego for a bit before moving up to the big time in L.A.

We looked at how he combines a strong visual image with a strong textual statement. We discussed how much impact words have when they are presented in a very bold way. Big block letters give you a much different feeling than cursive lettering.

We also looked at how, even in Shepard's graphic images, he creates a sense of implied volume by using a couple colors to create light and shadow.

Before students started creating their own images, we also talked about analogous color schemes and how they can create a certain mood or feeling that can add another element to the overall reading of an image.

1. students sketch numerous hand positions
2. students list words that could go with their hand images
3. on good paper students lightly separate hand area from text area
4. students draw hand and outline where shadows will be
5. students add text to bottom
6. students add color using an analogous color scheme